, there is one passion I would advise you to command: when you have
drunk out that glass, don't drink another[846].' Here was exemplified
what Goldsmith said of him, with the aid of a very witty image from one
of Cibber's Comedies: 'There is no arguing with Johnson; for if his
pistol misses fire, he knocks you down with the butt end of it[847].'
Another was this: when a gentleman[848] of eminence in the literary
world was violently censured for attacking people by anonymous
paragraphs in newspapers; he, from the spirit of contradiction as I
thought, took up his defence, and said, 'Come, come, this is not so
terrible a crime; he means only to vex them a little. I do not say that
I should do it; but there is a great difference between him and me; what
is fit for Hephaestion is not fit for Alexander.' Another, when I told
him that a young and handsome Countess had said to me, 'I should think
that to be praised by Dr. Johnson would make one a fool all one's life;'
and that I answered, 'Madam, I shall make him a fool to-day, by
repeating this to him,' he said, 'I am too old to be made a fool; but if
you say I am made a fool, I shall not deny it. I am much pleased with a
compliment, especially from a pretty woman.'

On the evening of Saturday, May 15, he was in fine spirits, at our
Essex-Head Club. He told us, 'I dined yesterday at Mrs. Garrick's, with
Mrs. Carter[849], Miss Hannah More, and Miss Fanny Burney. Three such
women are not to be found: I know not where I could find a fourth,
except Mrs. Lennox, who is superiour to them all[850].' BOSWELL. 'What!
had you them all to yourself, Sir?' JOHNSON. 'I had them all as much as
they were had; but it might have been better had there been more company
there.' BOSWELL. 'Might not Mrs. Montagu have been a fourth?' JOHNSON.
'Sir, Mrs. Montagu does not make a trade of her wit; but Mrs. Montagu is
a very extraordinary woman; she has a constant stream of conversation,
and it is always impregnated; it has always meaning[851].' BOSWELL. 'Mr.
Burke has a constant stream of conversation.' JOHNSON. 'Yes, Sir; if a
man were to go by chance at the same time with Burke under a shed, to
shun a shower, he would say--"this is an extraordinary man." If Burke
should go into a stable to see his horse drest, the ostler would
say--we have had an extraordinary man here[852].' BOSWELL. 'Foote was a
man who never failed in conversation. If he had gone into a stable--'
JOHNSON. 'Sir, if he had gone into