Johnson was at a certain period of his life a good deal with the Earl of Shelburne[600], now Marquis of Lansdown, as he doubtless could not but have a due value for that nobleman’s activity of mind, and uncommon acquisitions of important knowledge, however much he might disapprove of other parts of his Lordship’s character, which were widely different from his own.

Maurice Morgann, Esq., authour of the very ingenious Essay on the character of Falstaff[601], being a particular friend of his Lordship, had once an opportunity of entertaining Johnson for a day or two at Wickham, when its Lord was absent, and by him I have been favoured with two anecdotes.

One is not a little to the credit of Johnson’s candour.  Mr. Morgann and he had a dispute pretty late at night, in which Johnson would not give up, though he had the wrong side, and in short, both kept the field.  Next morning, when they met in the breakfasting-room, Dr. Johnson accosted Mr. Morgann thus:—­’Sir, I have been thinking on our dispute last night—­You were in the right[602].’

The other was as follows:—­Johnson, for sport perhaps, or from the spirit of contradiction, eagerly maintained that Derrick[603] had merit as a writer.  Mr. Morgann argued with him directly, in vain.  At length he had recourse to this device.  ’Pray, Sir, (said he,) whether do you reckon Derrick or Smart[604] the best poet?’ Johnson at once felt himself roused; and answered, ’Sir, there is no settling the point of precedency between a louse and a flea.’

Once, when checking my boasting too frequently of myself in company, he said to me, ’Boswell, you often vaunt so much, as to provoke ridicule.  You put me in mind of a man who was standing in the kitchen of an inn with his back to the fire, and thus accosted the person next him, “Do you know, Sir, who I am?” “No, Sir, (said the other,) I have not that advantage.”  “Sir, (said he,) I am the great TWALMLEY, who invented the New Floodgate Iron[605]."’ The Bishop of Killaloe, on my repeating the story to him, defended Twalmley, by observing, that he was entitled to the epithet of great; for Virgil in his groupe of worthies in the Elysian fields—­

     Hic manus ob patriam pugnando vulnera passi, &c.

mentions

     Inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes[606].

He was pleased to say to me one morning when we were left alone in his study, ’Boswell, I think I am easier with you than with almost any body.’

He would not allow Mr. David Hume any credit for his political principles, though similar to his own; saying of him, ’Sir, he was a Tory by chance[607].’

His acute observation of human life made him remark, ’Sir, there is nothing by which a man exasperates most people more, than by displaying a superiour ability or brilliancy in conversation.  They seem pleased at the time; but their envy makes them curse him at their hearts[608].’