Boswell’s Life of Johnson: 146

Edited by Dan Leo, LL.D., Associate Professor of 18th Century British Men’s Issues; author of Bozzie and Dr. Sam: The Case of the Dismounted Count, the Olney Community College Press.

Artwork personally supervised by rhoda penmarq (pencils, inks, etchings, and Crayolas™  by eddie el greco; lettering by roy dismas) a penmarq™/sternwall™ co-production.

to begin at the beginning, click here

for previous chapter, click here

As the evidence of what I have mentioned at the beginning of this year, I select from his private register the following passage: 'July 25, 1776. O GOD, who hast ordained that whatever is to be desired should be sought by labour, and who, by thy blessing, bringest honest labour to good effect, look with mercy upon my studies and endeavours. Grant me, O LORD, to design only what is lawful and right; and afford me calmness of mind, and steadiness of purpose, that I may so do thy will in this short life, as to obtain happiness in the world to come, for the sake of JESUS CHRIST our Lord. Amen.' It appears from a note subjoined, that this was composed when he 'purposed to apply vigorously to study, particularly of the Greek and Italian tongues.' Such a purpose, so expressed, at the age of sixty-seven, is admirable and encouraging; and it must impress all the thinking part of my readers with a consolatory confidence in habitual devotion, when they see a man of such enlarged intellectual powers as Johnson, thus in the genuine earnestness of secrecy, imploring the aid of that Supreme Being, 'from whom cometh down every good and every perfect gift.' 'TO SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 'SIR, 'A young man, whose name is Paterson, offers himself this evening to the Academy. He is the son of a man for whom I have long had a kindness, and who is now abroad in distress. I shall be glad that you will be pleased to shew him any little countenance, or pay him any small distinction. How much it is in your power to favour or to forward a young man I do not know; nor do I know how much this candidate deserves favour by his personal merit, or what hopes his proficiency may now give of future eminence. I recommend him as the son of my friend. Your character and station enable you to give a young man great encouragement by very easy means. You have heard of a man who asked no other favour of Sir Robert Walpole, than that he would bow to him at his levee. 'I am, Sir, 'Your most humble servant, 'SAM. JOHNSON.' 'Aug. 3, 1776.' 'MR. BOSWELL TO DR. JOHNSON. 'Edinburgh, August 30, 1776. 'For the honour of Count Manucci, as well as to observe that exactness of truth which you have taught me, I must correct what I said in a former letter. He did not fall from his horse, which might have been an imputation on his skill as an officer of cavalry; his horse fell with him.’ 'TO MR. ROBERT LEVETT. DEAR SIR, 'Having spent about six weeks at this place, we have at length resolved upon returning. I expect to see you all in Fleet-street on the 30th of this month. 'I did not go into the sea till last Friday, but think to go most of this week, though I know not that it does me any good. My nights are very restless and tiresome, but I am otherwise well. 'I have written word of my coming to Mrs. Williams. Remember me kindly to Francis and Betsy. I am, Sir, 'Your humble servant, 'SAM. JOHNSON.' ' Brighthelmstone, Oct. 21, 1776' I again wrote to Dr. Johnson on the 21st of October, informing him, that my father had, in the most liberal manner, paid a large debt for me, and that I had now the happiness of being upon very good terms with him; to which he returned the following answer. 'To JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 'DEAR SIR, 'I had great pleasure in hearing that you are at last on good terms with your father. Cultivate his kindness by all honest and manly means. Life is but short; no time can be afforded but for the indulgence of real sorrow, or contests upon questions seriously momentous. Let us not throw away any of our days upon useless resentment, or contend who shall hold out longest in stubborn malignity. It is best not to be angry; and best, in the next place, to be quickly reconciled. May you and your father pass the remainder of your time in reciprocal benevolence! * * * * * 'Do you ever hear from Mr. Langton? I visit him sometimes, but he does not talk. I do not like his scheme of life; but as I am not permitted to understand it, I cannot set any thing right that is wrong. His children are sweet babies. 'I hope my irreconcileable enemy, Mrs. Boswell, is well. Desire her not to transmit her malevolence to the young people. Let me have Alexander, and Veronica, and Euphemia, for my friends. 'Mrs. Williams, whom you may reckon as one of your well-wishers, is in a feeble and languishing state, with little hope of growing better. She went for some part of the autumn into the country, but is little benefited; and Dr. Lawrence confesses that his art is at an end. Death is, however, at a distance; and what more than that can we say of ourselves? I am sorry for her pain, and more sorry for her decay. Mr. Levett is sound, wind and limb. 'I was some weeks this autumn at Brighthelmstone. The place was very dull, and I was not well; the expedition to the Hebrides was the most pleasant journey that I ever made. Such an effort annually would give the world a little diversification. 'Every year, however, we cannot wander, and must therefore endeavour to spend our time at home as well as we can. I believe it is best to throw life into a method, that every hour may bring its employment, and every employment have its hour. Xenophon observes, in his Treatise of Oeconomy, that if every thing be kept in a certain place, when any thing is worn out or consumed, the vacuity which it leaves will shew what is wanting; so if every part of time has its duty, the hour will call into remembrance its proper engagement. 'I have not practised all this prudence myself, but I have suffered much for want of it; and I would have you, by timely recollection and steady resolution, escape from those evils which have lain heavy upon me. I am, my dearest Boswell, 'Your most humble servant, 'SAM. JOHNSON.' 'Bolt-court, Nov. 16, 1776.' On the 16th of November I informed him that Mr. Strahan had sent me twelve copies of the Journey to the Western Islands, handsomely bound; requested to know how they should be distributed: and mentioned that I had another son born to me, who was named David, and was a sickly infant. 'To JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 'DEAR SIR, 'I have been for some time ill of a cold, which, perhaps, I made an excuse to myself for not writing, when in reality I knew not what to say. 'The books you must at last distribute as you think best, in my name, or your own, as you are inclined, or as you judge most proper. Every body cannot be obliged; but I wish that nobody may be offended. Do the best you can. 'I congratulate you on the increase of your family, and hope that little David is by this time well, and his mamma perfectly recovered. I am much pleased to hear of the re-establishment of kindness between you and your father. Cultivate his paternal tenderness as much as you can. To live at variance at all is uncomfortable; and variance with a father is still more uncomfortable. Besides that, in the whole dispute you have the wrong side; at least you gave the first provocations, and some of them very offensive. Let it now be all over. As you have no reason to think that your new mother has shewn you any foul play, treat her with respect, and with some degree of confidence; this will secure your father. When once a discordant family has felt the pleasure of peace, they will not willingly lose it. If Mrs. Boswell would but be friends with me, we might now shut the temple of Janus. {In ancient Rome the doors of the Temple of Janus were kept closed in times of peace. – Editor} 'Mrs. Williams has been much out of order; and though she is something better, is likely, in her physician's opinion, to endure her malady for life, though she may, perhaps, die of some other. Mrs. Thrale is big, and fancies that she carries a boy; if it were very reasonable to wish much about it, I should wish her not to be disappointed. The desire of male heirs is not appendant only to feudal tenures. A son is almost necessary to the continuance of Thrale's fortune; for what can misses do with a brewhouse? Lands are fitter for daughters than trades.  'Baretti went away from Thrale's in some whimsical fit of disgust, or ill-nature, without taking any leave. It is well if he finds in any other place as good an habitation, and as many conveniencies. He has got five-and-twenty guineas by translating Sir Joshua's Discourses into Italian, and Mr. Thrale gave him an hundred in the spring; so that he is yet in no difficulties. 'Your humble servant, 'SAM. JOHNSON.' 'Dec. 21, 1776.' (classix comix™ is brought to you by Bob’s Bowery Bar, conveniently located at the northwest corner of Bleecker and the Bowery: “Do you ever find yourself filled with an awful sense of existential dread at the state of the nation? Well, don’t despair, drop in at Bob’s Bowery Bar and chase away the glooms with Bob’s post-election happy-hour special, ‘The Happy Jack’ – a delightful concoction of Bob’s Mom’s homemade applejack, cask-aged Royal Navy rum, key lime, cloves, cinnamon, crystalized ginger, and blackstrap molasses, served piping hot in a pint tankard – only .99¢ between the hours of 4pm and 6pm, Monday through Friday! (Sorry, no more than four per customer.)” – Horace P. Sternwall, host of Bob’s Bowery Bar Presents Philip Morris Commander’s Soup Kitchen Tales, broadcast live Mondays at 8pm (EST). This week’s presentation: “The Brave Little Paper Boy”, by Artemis Boldwater, starring Hyacinth Wilde as “Timmy O’Leary”, Angus Strongbow as “Father Jim”, Jack Carson as “Officer Tom”, and Miss Kitty Carlisle as “Major Babs”.) part 147

Boswell’s Life of Johnson: 145

Edited by Dan Leo, LL.D., Assistant Professor of Illustrated Literature Studies; author of Bozzie and Dr. Sam: The Missing Cask of Sack, the Olney Community College Press.

Art direction by rhoda penmarq (pencils, inks, oils, water colors, lithographs by eddie el greco; lettering by roy dismas) for the penmarq™ qonsortium, ltd.

to begin at the beginning, click here

for previous chapter, click here

I talked a good deal to him of the celebrated Margaret Caroline Rudd {a notorious forger – Editor}, whom I had visited, induced by the fame of her talents, address, and irresistible power of fascination. To a lady who disapproved of my visiting her, he said on a former occasion, 'Nay, Madam, Boswell is in the right; I should have visited her myself, were it not that they have now a trick of putting every thing into the news-papers.' This evening he exclaimed, 'I envy him his acquaintance with Mrs. Rudd.' I mentioned a scheme which I had of making a tour to the Isle of Man, and giving a full account of it; and that Mr. Burke had playfully suggested as a motto, 'The proper study of mankind is MAN.' JOHNSON. 'Sir, you will get more by the book than the jaunt will cost you; so you will have your diversion for nothing, and add to your reputation.' On the evening of the next day I took leave of him, being to set out for Scotland. I thanked him with great warmth for all his kindness. 'Sir, (said he,) you are very welcome. Nobody repays it with more.' How very false is the notion which has gone round the world of the rough, and passionate, and harsh manners of this great and good man. That he had occasional sallies of heat of temper, and that he was sometimes, perhaps, too 'easily provoked' by absurdity and folly, and sometimes too desirous of triumph in colloquial contest, must be allowed. The quickness both of his perception and sensibility disposed him to sudden explosions of satire; to which his extraordinary readiness of wit was a strong and almost irresistible incitement. To adopt one of the finest images in Mr. Home's Douglas, 'On each glance of thought Decision followed, as the thunderbolt Pursues the flash!' I admit that the beadle within him was often so eager to apply the lash, that the Judge had not time to consider the case with sufficient deliberation. That he was occasionally remarkable for violence of temper may be granted: but let us ascertain the degree, and not let it be supposed that he was in a perpetual rage, and never without a club in his hand, to knock down every one who approached him. On the contrary, the truth is, that by much the greatest part of his time he was civil, obliging, nay, polite in the true sense of the word; so much so, that many gentlemen, who were long acquainted with him, never received, or even heard a strong expression from him. 'DR. JOHNSON TO MRS. BOSWELL. 'MADAM,   'You must not think me uncivil in omitting to answer the letter with which you favoured me some time ago. I imagined it to have been written without Mr. Boswell's knowledge, and therefore supposed the answer to require, what I could not find, a private conveyance. 'The difference with Lord Auchinleck is now over; and since young Alexander has appeared, I hope no more difficulties will arise among you; for I sincerely wish You will now have Mr. Boswell home; it is well that you have him; he has led a wild life. I have taken him to Lichfield, and he has followed Mr. Thrale to Bath. Pray take care of him, and tame him. The only thing in which I have the honour to agree with you is, in loving him; and while we are so much of a mind in a matter of so much importance, our other quarrels will, I hope, produce no great bitterness. I am, Madam, 'Your most humble servant, 'SAM. JOHNSON.' 'May 16, 1776.' 'MR. BOSWELL TO DR. JOHNSON. 'Edinburgh, June 25, 1776. 'You have formerly complained that my letters were too long. There is no danger of that complaint being made at present; for I find it difficult for me to write to you at all. [Here an account of having been afflicted with a return of melancholy or bad spirits.] 'The boxes of books which you sent to me are arrived; but I have not yet examined the contents. 'DR. JOHNSON TO MR. BOSWELL. 'Dear Sir, 'These black fits, of which you complain, perhaps hurt your memory as well as your imagination. When did I complain that your letters were too long? Your last letter, after a very long delay, brought very bad news. [Here a series of reflections upon melancholy, and — what I could not help thinking strangely unreasonable in him who had suffered so much from it himself,— a good deal of severity and reproof, as if it were owing to my own fault, or that I was, perhaps, affecting it from a desire of distinction.] 'Read Cheyne's English Malady; but do not let him teach you a foolish notion that melancholy is a proof of acuteness. 'To hear that you have not opened your boxes of books is very offensive. The examination and arrangement of so many volumes might have afforded you an amusement very seasonable at present, and useful for the whole of life. I am, I confess, very angry that you manage yourself so ill. 'I do not now say any more, than that I am, with great kindness, and sincerity, dear Sir, 'Your humble servant, 'SAM. JOHNSON.' 'July 2, 1776.' 'DR. JOHNSON TO MR. BOSWELL. 'DEAR SIR, 'I make haste to write again, lest my last letter should give you too much pain. If you are really oppressed with overpowering and involuntary melancholy, you are to be pitied rather than reproached.  * * * * * 'Now, my dear Bozzy, let us have done with quarrels and with censure. Let me know whether I have not sent you a pretty library. There are, perhaps, many books among them which you never need read through; but there are none which it is not proper for you to know, and sometimes to consult. 'Of these books, of which the use is only occasional, it is often sufficient to know the contents, that, when any question arises, you may know where to look for information. 'Langton's lady has brought him a girl, and both are well; I dined with him the other day. 'It vexes me to tell you, that on the evening of the 29th of May I was seized by the gout, and am not quite well. The pain has not been violent, but the weakness and tenderness were very troublesome, and what is said to be very uncommon, it has not alleviated my other disorders. Make use of youth and health while you have them; make my compliments to Mrs. Boswell. I am, my dear Sir, 'Your most affectionate 'SAM. JOHNSON.' 'July 6, 1776.' 'Mr. BOSWELL TO DR. JOHNSON. 'Edinburgh, July 18, 1776. 'MY DEAR SIR, 'Your letter of the second of this month was rather a harsh medicine; but I was delighted with that spontaneous tenderness, which, a few days afterwards, sent forth such balsam as your next brought me. I found myself for some time so ill that all I could do was to preserve a decent appearance, while all within was weakness and distress. 'Like a reduced garrison that has some spirit left, I hung out flags, and planted all the force I could muster, upon the walls. I am now much better, and I sincerely thank you for your kind attention and friendly counsel. 'Count Manucci came here last week from travelling in Ireland. I have shewn him what civilities I could on his own account, on yours, and on that of Mr. and Mrs. Thrale. He has had a fall from his horse, and been much hurt. I regret this unlucky accident, for he seems to be a very amiable man.' (classix comix™ is made possible in part through a continuing grant from the Bob’s Bowery Bar Fund for the Uremunerative Arts: “Yes – brr! – there is a nip of chill in the air, so why not toddle over to Bob’s Bowery Bar, conveniently located at the northwest corner of Bleecker and the Bowery, and warm up with a big bowl of ‘Bob’s Mom’s’ Mulligan Stew, a delightful mélange of free-range oxtail, trotters, fatback, potatoes, garlic, onions, turnips, carrots and rutabaga, slow-simmered in an enormous cast-iron pot for a minimum of twenty-four hours and served with your choice of Uneeda biscuits or Ritz crackers – a ‘steal’ at only .99¢ a bowl, and it goes swell with a tall schooner of Bob’s world-famous basement-brewed house bock!” – Horace P. Sternwall, host of The Bob’s Bowery Bar/Philip Morris Commander Demotic Theatre Showcase, broadcast live Mondays at 8pm (EST). This week’s play: “Love Song of the Slums”, by Artemis Boldwater, starring Hyacinth Wilde, Angus Strongbow, and Arnold Stang, guest starring Miss Kitty Carlisle as “Mrs. Morgenstern”.) part 146

Boswell’s Life of Johnson: 144

Edited by Dan Leo, LL.D., Associate Professor of 18th Century Cisgender Male-Bonding Studies; author of Bozzie and Dr. Sam: The Return of the Drunken Lord, the Olney Community College Press.

Art and layout personally supervised by rhoda penmarq (pencils, inks, oils, collages by eddie el greco; lettering by roy dismas); a penmarq studios™/bobsbowerybar™ co-production.

to begin at the beginning, click here

for previous chapter, click here

Foote {Samuel Foote, an actor, wit, and playwright – Editor} being mentioned, Johnson said. 'He is not a good mimick.' One of the company added, 'A merry Andrew, a buffoon.' JOHNSON. 'But he has wit too, and is not deficient in ideas, or in fertility and variety of imagery, and not empty of reading; he has knowledge enough to fill up his part. One species of wit he has in an eminent degree, that of escape. You drive him into a corner with both hands; but he's gone, Sir, when you think you have got him — like an animal that jumps over your head. Then he has a great range for wit; he never lets truth stand between him and a jest, and he is sometimes mighty coarse. Garrick is under many restraints from which Foote is free.' WILKES. 'Garrick's wit is more like Lord Chesterfield's.' JOHNSON. 'The first time I was in company with Foote was at Fitzherbert's. Having no good opinion of the fellow, I was resolved not to be pleased; and it is very difficult to please a man against his will. I went on eating my dinner pretty sullenly, affecting not to mind him. But the dog was so very comical, that I was obliged to lay down my knife and fork, throw myself back upon my chair, and fairly laugh it out. No, Sir, he was irresistible.  ‘He upon one occasion experienced, in an extraordinary degree, the efficacy of his powers of entertaining. Amongst the many and various modes which he tried of getting money, he became a partner with a small-beer brewer, and he was to have a share of the profits for procuring customers amongst his numerous acquaintance. Fitzherbert was one who took his small-beer; but it was so bad that the servants resolved not to drink it. They were at some loss how to notify their resolution, being afraid of offending their master, who they knew liked Foote much as a companion. At last they fixed upon a little black boy, who was rather a favourite, to be their deputy, and deliver their remonstrance; and having invested him with the whole authority of the kitchen, he was to inform Mr. Fitzherbert, in all their names, upon a certain day, that they would drink Foote's small-beer no longer. On that day Foote happened to dine at Fitzherbert's, and this boy served at table; he was so delighted with Foote's stories, and merriment, and grimace, that when he went down stairs, he told them, "This is the finest man I have ever seen. I will not deliver your message. I will drink his small-beer."' Somebody observed that Garrick could not have done this. WILKES. 'Garrick would have made the small-beer still smaller. He is now leaving the stage; but he will play Scrub {a servant in George Farquhar’s comedy The Beaux' Stratagem – Editor} all his life.' I knew that Johnson would let nobody attack Garrick but himself, as Garrick once said to me, and I had heard him praise his liberality; so to bring out his commendation of his celebrated pupil, I said, loudly, 'I have heard Garrick is liberal.' JOHNSON. 'Yes, Sir, I know that Garrick has given away more money than any man in England that I am acquainted with, and that not from ostentatious views. Garrick was very poor when he began life; so when he came to have money, he probably was very unskilful in giving away, and saved when he should not. But Garrick began to be liberal as soon as he could; and I am of opinion, the reputation of avarice which he has had, has been very lucky for him, and prevented his having many enemies. You despise a man for avarice, but do not hate him.' Talking of the great difficulty of obtaining authentick information for biography, Johnson told us, 'When I was a young fellow I wanted to write the Life of Dryden, and in order to get materials, I applied to the only two persons then alive who had seen him; these were old Swinney and old Cibber. ‘Swinney's information was no more than this, "That at Will's coffee-house Dryden had a particular chair for himself, which was set by the fire in winter, and was then called his winter-chair; and that it was carried out for him to the balcony in summer, and was then called his summer-chair." ‘Cibber could tell no more but "That he remembered him a decent old man, arbiter of critical disputes at Will's." ‘You are to consider that Cibber was then at a great distance from Dryden, had perhaps one leg only in the room, and durst not draw in the other.' BOSWELL. 'Yet Cibber was a man of observation?' JOHNSON. 'I think not.' BOSWELL. 'You will allow his Apology to be well done.' JOHNSON. 'Very well done, to be sure, Sir. That book is a striking proof of the justice of Pope's remark: "Each might his several province well command, Would all but stoop to what they understand." BOSWELL. 'And his plays are good.' JOHNSON. 'Yes; but that was his trade; l'esprit du corps; he had been all his life among players and play-writers. I wondered that he had so little to say in conversation, for he had kept the best company, and learnt all that can be got by the ear. He abused Pindar to me, and then shewed me an Ode of his own, with an absurd couplet, making a linnet soar on an eagle's wing. I told him that when the ancients made a simile, they always made it like something real.' Mr. Wilkes remarked, that 'among all the bold flights of Shakspeare's imagination, the boldest was making Birnamwood march to Dunsinane; creating a wood where there never was a shrub; a wood in Scotland! ha! ha! ha!' And he also observed, that 'the clannish slavery of the Highlands of Scotland was the single exception to Milton's remark of "The Mountain Nymph, sweet Liberty," being worshipped in all hilly countries.' 'When I was at Inverary (said he,) on a visit to my old friend, Archibald, Duke of Argyle, his dependents congratulated me on being such a favourite of his Grace. I said, "It is then, gentlemen, truely lucky for me; for if I had displeased the Duke, and he had wished it, there is not a Campbell among you but would have been ready to bring John Wilkes's head to him in a charger.’ Dr. Johnson and Mr. Wilkes talked of the contested passage in Horace's Art of Poetry, 'Difficile est propriè communia dicere.' Mr. Wilkes gave the interpretation thus: 'It is difficult to speak with propriety of common things; as, if a poet had to speak of Queen Caroline drinking tea, he must endeavour to avoid the vulgarity of cups and saucers.' JOHNSON. 'He means that it is difficult to appropriate to particular persons qualities which are common to all mankind, as Homer has done.' Mr. Arthur Lee mentioned some Scotch who had taken possession of a barren part of America, and wondered why they should choose it. JOHNSON. 'Why, Sir, all barrenness is comparative. The Scotch would not know it to be barren.' BOSWELL. 'Come, come, he is flattering the English. You have now been in Scotland, Sir, and say if you did not see meat and drink enough there.' JOHNSON. 'Why yes, Sir; meat and drink enough to give the inhabitants sufficient strength to run away from home.' All these quick and lively sallies were said sportively, quite in jest, and with a smile, which showed that he meant only wit. Upon this topick he and Mr. Wilkes could perfectly assimilate; here was a bond of union between them, and I was conscious that as both of them had visited Caledonia, both were fully satisfied of the strange narrow ignorance of those who imagine that it is a land of famine. But they amused themselves with persevering in the old jokes. When I claimed a superiority for Scotland over England in one respect, that no man can be arrested there for a debt merely because another swears it against him; and that a seizure of the person, before judgement is obtained, can take place only, if his creditor should swear that he is about to fly from the country, or, as it is technically expressed, is in meditatione fugae: WILKES. 'That, I should think, may be safely sworn of all the Scotch nation.' JOHNSON. (to Mr. Wilkes) 'You must know, Sir, I lately took my friend Boswell and shewed him genuine civilised life in an English provincial town. I turned him loose at Lichfield, my native city, that he might see for once real civility: for you know he lives among savages in Scotland, and among rakes in London.' WILKES. 'Except when he is with grave, sober, decent people like you and me.' JOHNSON, (smiling) 'And we ashamed of him.' They were quite frank and easy. Johnson told the story of his asking Mrs. Macaulay to allow her footman to sit down with them, to prove the ridiculousness of the argument for the equality of mankind; and he said to me afterwards, with a nod of satisfaction, 'You saw Mr. Wilkes acquiesced.' After dinner we had an accession of Mrs. Knowles, the Quaker lady, well known for her various talents, and of Mr. Alderman Lee. Amidst some patriotick groans, somebody (I think the Alderman) said, 'Poor old England is lost.' JOHNSON. 'Sir, it is not so much to be lamented that Old England is lost, as that the Scotch have found it.' Mr. Wilkes held a candle to shew a fine print of a beautiful female figure which hung in the room, and pointed out the elegant contour of the bosom with the finger of an arch connoisseur. He afterwards, in a conversation with me, waggishly insisted, that all the time Johnson shewed visible signs of a fervent admiration of the corresponding charms of the fair Quaker. This record, though by no means so perfect as I could wish, will serve to give a notion of a very curious interview, which was not only pleasing at the time, but had the agreeable and benignant effect of reconciling any animosity, and sweetening any acidity, which in the various bustle of political contest, had been produced in the minds of two men, who though widely different, had so many things in common — classical learning, modern literature, wit, and humour, and ready repartee — that it would have been much to be regretted if they had been for ever at a distance from each other.  Mr. Burke gave me much credit for this successful negociation; and pleasantly said, that 'there was nothing to equal it in the whole history of the Corps Diplomatique'. I attended Dr. Johnson home, and had the satisfaction to hear him tell Mrs . Williams how much he had been pleased with Mr. Wilkes's company, and what an agreeable day he had passed. classix comix™ is underwritten by the Bob’s Bowery Bar Endowment for the Impecuniary Arts: “I know of no better way to dispel the debilitating effects of a late Saturday night than to stagger over to Bob’s Bowery Bar and order the ‘Mom’s Fry-Up’ brunch special: a massive plate loaded with fried scrapple, blood pudding, head cheese, six thick rashers of home-cured bacon, breaded mushroom ‘n’ onion slices, home fries, and three free-range eggs ‘any style’ – wash it all down with a ‘bottomless cup’ of java and a schooner or two of Bob’s basement-brewed house bock and you’ll be, as my young friends say, ‘good to go’!” – Horace P. Sternwall, host of The Bob’s Bowery Bar/Philip Morris Commander Election Day Special, Tuesday at 8pm (EST), broadcast live from the Prince Hal Room of the Hotel St Crispian, featuring Joe E. Lewis, Lord Buckley, Oscar Levant, Ayn Rand, and Kitty Carlisle; special musical guests: Tony Winston & his Winstonians, featuring Shirley De LaSalle, with the lovely Betty Baxter Dancers.) part 145