Note 935 — THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. (continued 5)

Cardinal Newman (History of my Religious Opinions, ed. 1865, p. 361) remarks on this:—'As to Johnson's case of a murderer asking you which way a man had gone, I should have anticipated that, had such a difficulty happened to him, his first act would have been to knock the man down, and to call out for the police; and next, if he was worsted in the conflict, he would not have given the ruffian the information he asked, at whatever risk to himself. I think he would have let himself be killed first. I do not think that he would have told a lie.'