.

[1254] It was on Nov. 30 that he repeated these lines. See Croker's
_Boswell_, p. 843.

[1255] _British Synonymy_, i. 359. Mrs. Piozzi, to add to the wonder,
says that these verses were 'improviso,' forgetting that Johnson wrote
to her on Aug 8, 1780 (_Piozzi Letters_, ii. 175):--'You have heard in
the papers how --- is come to age. I have enclosed a short song of
congratulation which you must not shew to anybody. It is odd that it
should come into anybody's head. I hope you will read it with candour;
it is, I believe, one of the author's first essays in that way of
writing, and a beginner is always to be treated with tenderness.' That
it was Sir John Lade who had come of age is shewn by the entry of his
birth, Aug. 1, 1759, in the _Gent. Mag._ 1759, p. 392. He was the nephew
and ward of Mr. Thrale, who seemed to think that Miss Burney would make
him a good wife. (Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, i. 79.) According to Mr.
Hayward (_Life of Piozzi_, i. 69) it was Lade who having asked Johnson
whether he advised him to marry, received as answer: 'I would advise no
man to marry, Sir, who is not likely to propagate understanding.' See
_ante_, ii. 109, note 2. Mr. Hayward adds that 'he married a woman of
the town, became a celebrated member of the Four-in-Hand Club, and
contrived to waste the whole of a fine fortune before he died.' In
Campbell's _Chancellors_ (ed. 1846, v. 628) a story is told of Sir John
Ladd, who is, I suppose, the same man. The Prince of Wales in 1805 asked
Lord Thurlow to dinner, and also Ladd. 'When "the old Lion" arrived the
Prince went into the ante-room to meet him, and apologised for the party
being larger than he had intended, but added, "that Sir John was an old
friend of his, and he could not avoid asking him to dinner," to which
Thurlow, in his growling voice, answered, "I have no objection, Sir, to
Sir John Ladd in his proper place, which I take to be your Royal
Highness's coach-box, and not your table."'

[1256] _British Synonymy_ was published in 1794, later therefore than
Boswell's first and second editions. In both these the latter half of
this paragraph ran as follows:--"From the specimen which Mrs. Piozzi has
exhibited of it (_Anecdotes_, p. 196) it is much to be wished that the
world could see the whole. Indeed I can speak from my own knowledge; for
having had the pleasure to read it, I found it to be a piece of
exquisite satire conveyed in a strain of pointed vivacity and humour,
and in a