size of a man's
understanding might always be justly measured by his mirth," and his own
was never contemptible. He would laugh at a stroke of genuine humour, or
sudden sally of odd absurdity, as heartily and freely as I ever yet saw
any man; and though the jest was often such as few felt besides himself,
yet his laugh was irresistible, and was observed immediately to produce
that of the company, not merely from the notion that it was proper to
laugh when he did, but purely out of want of power to forbear it. He was
no enemy to splendour of apparel or pomp of equipage. "Life," he would
say, "is barren enough surely with all her trappings; let us therefore be
cautious how we strip her." In matters of still higher moment he once
observed, when speaking on the subject of sudden innovation, "He who
plants a forest may doubtless cut down a hedge; yet I could wish,
methinks, that even he would wait till he sees his young plants grow."

With regard to common occurrences, Mr. Johnson had, when I first knew
him, looked on the still-shifting scenes of life till he was weary; for
as a mind slow in its own nature, or unenlivened by information, will
contentedly read in the same book for twenty times, perhaps, the very act
of reading it being more than half the business, and every period being
at every reading better understood; while a mind more active or more
skilful to comprehend its meaning is made sincerely sick at the second
perusal; so a soul like his, acute to discern the truth, vigorous to
embrace, and powerful to retain it, soon sees enough of the world's dull
prospect, which at first, like that of the sea, pleases by its extent,
but soon, like that, too, fatigues from its uniformity; a calm and a
storm being the only variations that the nature of either will admit.

Of Mr. Johnson's erudition the world has been the judge, and we who
produce each a score of his sayings, as proofs of that wit which in him
was inexhaustible, resemble travellers who, having visited Delhi or
Golconda, bring home each a handful of Oriental pearl to evince the
riches of the Great Mogul. May the public condescend to accept my _ill-
strung_ selection with patience at least, remembering only that they are
relics of him who was great on all occasions, and, like a cube in
architecture, you beheld him on each side, and his size still appeared
undiminished.

As his purse was ever open to almsgiving, so was his heart tender to
those who wanted re