anted himself, immovable as a noble
statue, upon the hearth, as if a stranger to the whole set.' Johnson,
who 'never spoke till he was spoken to' (_ante_, in. 307)--this habit
the Burneys did not as yet know--'became completely absorbed in silent
rumination; very unexpectedly, however, he shewed himself alive to what
surrounded him, by one of those singular starts of vision, that made him
seem at times, though purblind to things in common, gifted with an eye
of instinct for espying any action that he thought merited reprehension;
for all at once, looking fixedly on Mr. Greville, who without much
self-denial, the night being very cold, kept his station before the
chimney-piece, he exclaimed:--"If it were not for depriving the ladies
of the fire, I should like to stand upon the hearth myself." A smile
gleamed upon every face at this pointed speech. Mr. Greville tried to
smile himself, though faintly and scoffingly. He tried also to hold his
post; and though for two or three minutes he disdained to move, the
awkwardness of a general pause impelled him ere long to glide back to
his chair; but he rang the bell with force as he passed it to order his
carriage.'

[932] Page 139. BOSWELL.

[933] On this same day Miss Adams wrote to a friend:--'Dr. Johnson, tho'
not in good health, is in general very talkative and infinitely
agreeable and entertaining.' _Pemb. Coll. MSS_.

[934] Johnson said 'Milton was a _Phidias_, &c.' _Ante_, p. 99, note 1.
In his _Life of Milton_ (_Works, vii. 119) he writes:--'Milton never
learnt the art of doing little things with grace; he overlooked the
milder excellence of suavity and softness; he was a _Lion_ that had no
skill _in dandling the kid_.'

['Sporting the lion ramped, and in his paw
Dandled the kid.'

_Paradise Lost_, iv. 343.]

[935] Cardinal Newman (_History of my Religious Opinions_, ed. 1865, p.
361) remarks on this:--'As to Johnson's case of a murderer asking you
which way a man had gone, I should have anticipated that, had such a
difficulty happened to him, his first act would have been to knock the
man down, and to call out for the police; and next, if he was worsted in
the conflict, he would not have given the ruffian the information he
asked, at whatever risk to himself. I think he would have let himself be
killed first. I do not think that he would have told a lie.'

[936] See _ante_, iii. 376.

[937] Book ii. 1. 142.

[938] The annotator calls them '