ke, at
least is not the slave of gross appetite, and shows besides a preference
always to be esteemed, of the future to the present moment. Such a mind
may be made a good one; but the natural spendthrift, who grasps his
pleasures greedily and coarsely, and cares for nothing but immediate
indulgence, is very little to be valued above a negro." We talked of
Lady Tavistock, who grieved herself to death for the loss of her
husband--"She was rich, and wanted employment," says Johnson, "so she
cried till she lost all power of restraining her tears: other women are
forced to outlive their husbands, who were just as much beloved, depend
on it; but they have no time for grief: and I doubt not, if we had put my
Lady Tavistock into a small chandler's shop, and given her a nurse-child
to tend, her life would have been saved. The poor and the busy have no
leisure for sentimental sorrow." We were speaking of a gentleman who
loved his friend--"Make him Prime Minister," says Johnson, "and see how
long his friend will be remembered." But he had a rougher answer for me,
when I commended a sermon preached by an intimate acquaintance of our own
at the trading end of the town. "What was the subject, madam?" says Dr.
Johnson. "Friendship, sir," replied I. "Why, now, is it not strange
that a wise man, like our dear little Evans, should take it in his head
to preach on such a subject, in a place where no one can be thinking of
it?" "Why, what are they thinking upon, sir?" said I. "Why, the men are
thinking on their money, I suppose, and the women are thinking of their
mops."

Dr. Johnson's knowledge and esteem of what we call low or coarse life was
indeed prodigious; and he did not like that the upper ranks should be
dignified with the name of _the world_. Sir Joshua Reynolds said one day
that nobody _wore_ laced coats now; and that once everybody wore them.
"See, now," says Johnson, "how absurd that is; as if the bulk of mankind
consisted of fine gentlemen that came to him to sit for their pictures.
If every man who wears a laced coat (that he can pay for) was extirpated,
who would miss them?" With all this haughty contempt of gentility, no
praise was more welcome to Dr. Johnson than that which said he had the
notions or manners of a gentleman: which character I have heard him
define with accuracy, and describe with elegance. "Officers," he said,
"were falsely supposed to have the carriage of gentlemen; whereas no
profession left