Note 130 — THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D.

He trusted greatly to his memory. If it did not retain anything exactly, he did not think himself bound to look it up. Thus in his criticism on Congreve (Works, viii. 31) he says:—'Of his plays I cannot speak distinctly; for since I inspected them many years have passed.' In a note on his Life of Rowe, Nichols says:—'This Life is a very remarkable instance of the uncommon strength of Dr. Johnson's memory. When I received from him the MS. he complacently observed that the criticism was tolerably well done, considering that he had not read one of Rowe's plays for thirty years.' Ib. vii. 417.