Note 969 — THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. (continued 5)

Walpole says:—'I do not think I ever was in a room with Johnson six times in my days.' Letters, ix. 319. 'The first time, I think, was at the Royal Academy. Sir Joshua said, "Let me present Dr. Goldsmith to you;" he did. "Now I will present Dr. Johnson to you." "No," said I, "Sir Joshua; for Dr. Goldsmith, pass—but you shall not present Dr. Johnson to me."' Journal &c. of Miss Berry, i. 305. In his Journal of the Reign of George III, he speaks of Johnson as 'one of the venal champions of the Court,' 'a renegade' (i. 430); 'a brute,' 'an old decrepit hireling' (ib. p. 472); and as 'one of the subordinate crew whom to name is to stigmatize' (ib. ii. 5). In his Memoirs of the Reign of George III, iv. 297, he says:—'With a lumber of learning and some strong parts Johnson was an odious and mean character. His manners were sordid, supercilious, and brutal; his style ridiculously bombastic and vicious, and, in one word, with all the pedantry he had all the gigantic littleness of a country schoolmaster.'