nfirmed to me this anecdote.

'Among the early associates of Johnson, at St. John's Gate, was Samuel
Boyse [G-1], well known by his ingenious productions; and not less noted
for his imprudence. It was not unusual for Boyse to be a customer to the
pawnbroker. On one of these occasions, Dr. Johnson collected a sum of
money to redeem his friend's clothes, which in two days after were
pawned again. "The sum, (said Johnson,) was collected by sixpences, at a
time when to me sixpence was a serious consideration [G-2]."

'Speaking one day of a person for whom he had a real friendship, but in
whom vanity was somewhat too predominant, he observed, that "Kelly [G-3]
was so fond of displaying on his side-board the plate which he possessed,
that he added to it his spurs. For my part, (said he,) I never was
master of a pair of spurs, but once; and they are now at the bottom of
the ocean. By the carelessness of Boswell's servant, they were dropped
from the end of the boat, on our return from the Isle of Sky [G-4]."'

The late Reverend Mr. Samuel Badcock [G-5], having been introduced to Dr.
Johnson, by Mr. Nichols, some years before his death, thus expressed
himself in a letter to that gentleman:--

'How much I am obliged to you for the favour you did me in introducing
me to Dr. Johnson! _Tantum vidi Virgilium_ [G-6]. But to have seen him,
and to have received a testimony of respect from him, was enough. I
recollect all the conversation, and shall never forget one of his
expressions. Speaking of Dr. P---- [Priestley], (whose writings, I
saw, he estimated at a low rate,) he said, "You have proved him as
deficient in _probity_ as he is in learning [G-7]." I called him an
"Index-scholar [G-8];" but he was not willing to allow him a claim even
to that merit. He said, that "he borrowed from those who had been
borrowers themselves, and did not know that the mistakes he adopted had
been answered by others." I often think of our short, but precious,
visit to this great man. I shall consider it as a kind of an _aera_ in
my life.' BOSWELL. [Note: See Appendix G for notes on this footnote.]

[1241] See _ante_, i. 152, 501.

[1242] He wrote to Dr. Taylor on Feb. 17, 1776:--'Keep yourself
cheerful. Lie in bed with a lamp, and when you cannot sleep and are
beginning to think, light your candle and read. At least light your
candle; a man is perhaps never so much harrassed (_sic_) by his own mind
in the light as in the dark.' _Notes and Queries_,