in Parliament.  ’Ah, Sir, (said Johnson,) ancient ruffles and modern principles do not agree.’  Sir Philip defended the Opposition to the American war ably and with temper, and I joined him.  He said, the majority of the nation was against the ministry.  Johnson.  ’I, Sir, am against the ministry; but it is for having too little of that, of which Opposition thinks they have too much.  Were I minister, if any man wagged his finger against me, he should be turned out; for that which it is in the power of Government to give at pleasure to one or to another, should be given to the supporters of Government.  If you will not oppose at the expence of losing your place, your opposition will not be honest, you will feel no serious grievance; and the present opposition is only a contest to get what others have.  Sir Robert Walpole acted as I would do.  As to the American war, the sense of the nation is with the ministry.  The majority of those who can understand is with it; the majority of those who can only hear, is against it; and as those who can only hear are more numerous than those who can understand, and Opposition is always loudest, a majority of the rabble will be for Opposition.’

This boisterous vivacity entertained us; but the truth in my opinion was, that those who could understand the best were against the American war, as almost every man now is, when the question has been coolly considered.

Mrs. Thrale gave high praise to Mr. Dudley Long, (now North).  Johnson.  ’Nay, my dear lady, don’t talk so.  Mr. Long’s character is very short.  It is nothing.  He fills a chair.  He is a man of genteel appearance, and that is all.  I know nobody who blasts by praise as you do:  for whenever there is exaggerated praise, every body is set against a character.  They are provoked to attack it.  Now there is Pepys; you praised that man with such disproportion, that I was incited to lessen him, perhaps more than he deserves.  His blood is upon your head.  By the same principle, your malice defeats itself; for your censure is too violent.  And yet, (looking to her with a leering smile,) she is the first woman in the world, could she but restrain that wicked tongue of hers;—­she would be the only woman, could she but command that little whirligig.’

Upon the subject of exaggerated praise I took the liberty to say, that I thought there might be very high praise given to a known character which deserved it, and therefore it would not be exaggerated.  Thus, one might say of Mr. Edmund Burke, He is a very wonderful man.  Johnson.  ’No, Sir, you would not be safe if another man had a mind perversely to contradict.  He might answer, “Where is all the wonder?  Burke is, to be sure, a man of uncommon abilities, with a great quantity of matter in his mind, and a great fluency of language in his mouth.  But we are not to be stunned and astonished by him.”  So you see, Sir, even Burke would suffer, not from any fault of his own, but from your folly.’