ards that Dr Johnson was going home, and that he had
better accompany him now. So Edwards walked along with us, I
eagerly assisting to keep up the conversation. Mr Edwards
informed Dr Johnson that he had practised long as a solicitor
in Chancery.... When we got to Dr Johnson's house and were
seated in his library, the dialogue went on admirably. EDWARDS:
"Sir, I remember you would not let us say _prodigious_ at
College. For even then, sir (turning to me), he was delicate in
language, and we all feared him." JOHNSON (to Edwards): "From
your having practised the law long, sir, I presume you must be
rich." EDWARDS: "No, sir; I had a good deal of money; but I had
a number of poor relations to whom I gave great part of it."
JOHNSON: "Sir, you have been rich in the most valuable sense of
the word." EDWARDS: "But I shall not die rich." JOHNSON: "Nay,
sure, sir, it is better to _live_ rich, than to _die_ rich."
EDWARDS: "I wish I had continued at College." Johnson: "Why do
you wish that, sir?" EDWARDS: "Because I think I should have
had a much easier life than mine has been. I should have been a
parson, and had a good living, like Bloxam and several others,
and lived comfortably." JOHNSON: "Sir, the life of a parson,
of a conscientious clergyman, is not easy. I have always
considered a clergyman as the father of a larger family than he
is able to maintain. I would rather have Chancery suits upon my
hands than the cure of souls." Here, taking himself up all of a
sudden, he exclaimed, "O! Mr Edwards! I'll convince you that I
recollect you. Do you remember our drinking together at an
ale-house near Pembroke Gate?" ... EDWARDS: "You are a
philosopher, Dr Johnson. I have tried too in my time to be a
philosopher; but, I don't know how, cheerfulness was always
breaking in."--Mr Burke, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr Courtenay, Mr
Malone, and, indeed, all the eminent men to whom I have
mentioned this, have thought it an exquisite trait of
character. The truth is, that philosophy, like religion, is too
generally supposed to be hard and severe, at least so grave as
to exclude all gaiety. EDWARDS: "I have been twice married,
Doctor. You, I suppose, have never known what it was to have a
wife." JOHNSON: "Sir, I have known what it was to have a wife,
and (in a solemn, tender, faltering tone) I have know