s displayed in them, who are not able to sustain a
conversation. Those who know Menage only by his books, might think he
resembled those learned men; but if you shew the MENAGIANA, you
distinguish him from them, and make him known by a talent which is given
to very few learned men. There it appears that he was a man who spoke
off-hand a thousand good things. His memory extended to what was ancient
and modern; to the court and to the city; to the dead and to the living
languages; to things serious and things jocose; in a word, to a thousand
sorts of subjects. That which appeared a trifle to some readers of the
_Menagiana_, who did not consider circumstances, caused admiration in
other readers, who minded the difference between what a man speaks
without preparation, and that which he prepares for the press. And,
therefore, we cannot sufficiently commend the care which his illustrious
friends took to erect a monument so capable of giving him immortal
glory. They were not obliged to rectify what they had heard him say;
for, in so doing, they had not been faithful historians of his
conversations.' BOSWELL. Boswell's quotation from Clarendon (ed. 1826,
iv. 242) differs somewhat from the original.

[1297] See _ante_, ii. 326, and iv. 236.

[1298] See _ante_, p. iii.

[1299] To this finely-drawn character we may add the noble testimony of
Sir Joshua Reynolds:--'His pride had no meanness in it; there was
nothing little or mean about him.' Taylor's _Reynolds_, ii. 457.

[1300] In Johnson's character of Boerhaave there is much that applies
equally well to himself. 'Thus died Boerhaave, a man formed by nature
for great designs, and guided by religion in the exertion of his
abilities. He was of a robust and athletick constitution of body, so
hardened by early severities and wholesome fatigue that he was
insensible of any sharpness of air, or inclemency of weather. He was
tall, and remarkable for extraordinary strength. There was in his air
and motion something rough and artless, but so majestick and great at
the same time, that no man ever looked upon him without veneration, and
a kind of tacit submission to the superiority of his genius.... He was
never soured by calumny and detraction, nor ever thought it necessary to
confute them; "for they are sparks," said he, "which, if you do not blow
them, will go out of themselves."... He was not to be overawed or
depressed by the presence, frowns, or insolence of great men; but
persist