“When the Duke of Leeds shall married be
     To a fine young lady of high quality,
     How happy will that gentlewoman be
     In his Grace of Leeds’s good company.

     She shall have all that’s fine and fair,
     And the best of silk and satin shall wear;
     And ride in a coach to take the air,
     And have a house in St. James’s-square.”

To hear a man, of the weight and dignity of Johnson, repeating such humble attempts at poetry, had a very amusing effect.  He, however, seriously observed of the last stanza repeated by him, that it nearly comprized all the advantages that wealth can give.

’An eminent foreigner, when he was shewn the British Museum, was very troublesome with many absurd inquiries.  “Now there, Sir, (said he,) is the difference between an Englishman and a Frenchman.  A Frenchman must be always talking, whether he knows any thing of the matter or not; an Englishman is content to say nothing, when he has nothing to say.”

’His unjust contempt for foreigners was, indeed, extreme.  One evening, at old Slaughter’s coffee-house, when a number of them were talking loud about little matters, he said, “Does not this confirm old Meynell’s observation—­For any thing I see, foreigners are fools."’

’He said, that once, when he had a violent tooth-ache, a Frenchman accosted him thus:—­“Ah, Monsieur vous etudiez trop."’

’Colman, in a note on his translation of Terence, talking of Shakspeare’s learning, asks, “What says Farmer to this?  What says Johnson?” Upon this he observed, “Sir, let Farmer answer for himself:  I never engaged in this controversy.  I always said, Shakspeare had Latin enough to grammaticise his English."’

’A clergyman, whom he characterised as one who loved to say little oddities, was affecting one day, at a Bishop’s table, a sort of slyness and freedom not in character, and repeated, as if part of The Old Man’s Wish, a song by Dr. Walter Pope, a verse bordering on licentiousness.  Johnson rebuked him in the finest manner, by first shewing him that he did not know the passage he was aiming at, and thus humbling him: 

“Sir, that is not the song:  it is thus.”  And he gave it right.  Then looking stedfastly on him, “Sir, there is a part of that song which I should wish to exemplify in my own life:—­

“May I govern my passions with absolute sway!"’

’He used frequently to observe, that men might be very eminent in a profession, without our perceiving any particular power of mind in them in conversation.  “It seems strange (said he,) that a man should see so far to the right, who sees so short a way to the left.  Burke is the only man whose common conversation corresponds with the general fame which he has in the world.  Take up whatever topick you please, he is ready to meet you."’

’Mr. Langton, when a very young man, read Dodsley’s Cleone, a Tragedy, to him, not aware of his extreme impatience to be read to.  As it went on he turned his face to the back of his chair, and put himself into various attitudes, which marked his uneasiness.  At the end of an act, however, he said, “Come let’s have some more, let’s go into the slaughter-house again, Lanky.  But I am afraid there is more blood than brains.”